Advertisement

Ukraine war: Moscow claims to thwart ‘massive’ drone attack on Russia

Russia claims to have destroyed more than 150 drones overnight that targeted Russian energy facilities

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
3
A Ukrainian Vampire unmanned aerial vehicle with attached mortar shells is seen in the air near a front line amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Photo: Reuters

Kyiv launched one of the biggest drone attacks on Russia since the full-scale war began, targeting power plants and an oil refinery overnight, while Moscow’s forces made further advances towards a key town in eastern Ukraine, officials said on Sunday.

Advertisement

Ukraine also reported Russian shelling of areas near their shared border. A missile attack on a grain convoy killed a truck driver while another, on Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkiv in the northeast, injured at least 28, it said.

The fighting comes at a critical juncture in the two-and-a-half year conflict, with Russia pressing an offensive in eastern Ukraine while trying to expel Ukrainian forces that broke through its western border in a surprise incursion on August 6.

Advertisement

Russia last week pounded Ukraine with its heaviest air strikes of the war, hitting energy facilities, part of a campaign of drone and missile barrages that have killed thousands of civilians and troops since the conflict began in February 2022.

Ukraine, with a rapidly expanding domestic drone industry, has stepped up its own attacks on Russian energy, military, and transport infrastructure.

Advertisement